David Blacklock, left, pastes Heinz ketchup packages to Condiment Car 2. It took Blacklock and his friends Glen Lindquist, Steve Markham and Jack Markham about 30 hours to use carpenter's glue to stick about 4,000 packets of sauce on the car. less

David Blacklock, left, pastes Heinz ketchup packages to Condiment Car 2. It took Blacklock and his friends Glen Lindquist, Steve Markham and Jack Markham about 30 hours to use carpenter's glue to stick about ... more

Photo: Steven Markham, Contributed Photo

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Jack Markham waves from the back of the Condiment Car 2. The '91 Dodge is decorated with 388 ketchup and 58 hot sauce packets from Jack in the Box, 182 ketchups from Burger King, 37 ketchup packets from McDonald's, 48 ketchups from Wendy's, and 1,149 packs of hot, mild and fire sauce from Taco Bell. That's not counting 1,950 generic Heinz ketchup packets. less

Jack Markham waves from the back of the Condiment Car 2. The '91 Dodge is decorated with 388 ketchup and 58 hot sauce packets from Jack in the Box, 182 ketchups from Burger King, 37 ketchup packets from ... more

Photo: Steven Markham, Contributed Photo

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Creativity steered in a bold direction at Art Car Parade (w/photos)

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David Blacklock and some of his friends started collecting ketchup and sauce packets from fast food restaurants a few years ago, with no particular intention in mind, especially not gluing them to a car.

"Whenever we bought food or whatever, we grabbed a handful of them, and see who could get the most at each visit and held onto them for whatever reason," said Blacklock, a software developer who lives off Hollister and Tidwell. "Then we went to the art car parade and said 'What are we going to do with all those ketchup things? Gee, we ought to make a car out of them.' "

The site also has an itemized breakdown of where the four men got the packets, 388 ketchup and 58 hot sauce packs from Jack in the Box, 182 ketchups from Burger King, 37 ketchup packets from McDonald's, 48 ketchups from Wendy's and 1,149 packs of hot, mild and fire sauce from Taco Bell. That's not counting 1,950 generic Heinz ketchup packets.

The four fast food bandits didn't think of gluing them onto Lindquist's old car until seeing an art car parade a few years ago and realizing ketchup was of more use glued to a Dodge than sitting in a box in a corner of a room.

"We had all this ketchup sitting around for the longest time," Blacklock said.

Only two of the packets broke during the gluing process, and none have splattered since.

Edsel entry

Another entrant in this year's art car parade is
Patrick Stanley
, who last year turned a 1958 Edsel — a long car that looks a lot like a 1950s-era Mercury — into something that looks like a piece of construction equipment.

The car, called New Tools for Old School, took about two months to build.

"I've had Edsels all my life, and I kind of had my eyes on this one for three years," said Stanley, who lives in Raintree Village in Katy.

Stanley, a project director for Spaw Maxwell, asked the executive board of his company to sponsor the purchase and refurbishing of the car, and they agreed. As a result, Stanley replaced the engine with one from a 1971 Thunderbird.

New Tools for Old School won first place at the Katy Harvest Festival Parade, first place at the Port O'Connor parade last year and in last year's Art Car Parade in Houston, took third place overall, Stanley said.

Stanley said even though he loves his car, he doesn't drive it much except for the parade because it takes up a big part of the road.